This thread has been informative and even fun! It is gratifying to read as men open up about sexual health concerns and how to deal with issues like wives who have lost their sex drive. This has been my experience as we have aged: we are in the cusp of 70 years and over the last decade a libido gap widened, I have retained a need for regular release (after a week without orgasm my thoughts of sex become intrusive) while my wife developed dryness, discomfort, and lost interest. Physical intimacy remains important to us, and we still make love at times (using vibrators now and lots of lubricant), but orgasm is usually out of reach for her.
So, masturbation becomes increasingly important, as I don't want to impose my need for release on my wife every time. I have thought much about this disparity in need between aging partners. This may not have been as much an issue in previous generations, when (I imagine) whorehouses were close by. For me, porn was interesting for a while but I got weirded out by its exploitativeness. Solitary jerking off with no audiovisual stimuli gets the job done. But I have also wondered about social masturbation, as some previous commenters have alluded to. I will keep interrogating myself about where this comes from (hah) and welcome thoughts on this and on the thread as a whole.